


Empathy (It helps)

by KahunaBurger



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky friendly, Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Not Steve Friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 14:34:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8582173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KahunaBurger/pseuds/KahunaBurger
Summary: "Oh Christ, it's Howard..."
In which Barnes cares that he knew one of his victims, Tony cares that he cares, and Steve still mostly cares about Saving His Bucky.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story was based on a joke prompt by I-ship-tony-stark-with-happiness for "AU where Tony still finds out about his parents in Siberia, but instead of everything ending in a fight, Tony and Bucky talk it out (not letting Steve speak, like at all), end with agreeing that Steve is a jerkface who makes bad decisions, and leave together without Steve." It mixed with a conversation I had with a friend about how things probably would have gone better if Steve and Bucky hadn't sat there watching Howard murdered like they didn't care, and became not crack somehow.

When the video started, Bucky had tried to clamp down on his guilt, to feel nothing for what he was going to see. It was the same mission the Soldier had been questioned about before, but why did the details matter, compared to the results of the stolen serum? Then he saw the man, heard his voice. "Sergeant Barnes?"

"Oh, Christ, it's Howard..."

Iron Man jerked around towards him. The facemask was up, showing raw horror, and shit, they had called him 'Stark' at the airport and Bucky hadn't put it together with the looks.

"What, you don't even remember this?" He looked like he was going to step forward, but a scream from the monitor caught all of their attentions and he saw himself dropping Howard's battered body - and dammit, they hadn't been pals, but he remembered him a little, weapons and a flying car and the Smithsonian where they said he'd helped make Stevie into the man who could survive war and Hydra - and move towards the woman in the car. "Mom, no..."

"Tony, it wasn't him," Steve started pushing Bucky back, trying to get in between the two of them.

The idiot. "Of course it was me, I'm right there on film, I remember the mission, it's what Zemo was asking about!" He shoved the other man out of the way to face Iron Man who was once again focused on him.

"If you remember, why were you surprised?" There was rage there, but Stark was holding it down for now, and he had to tread carefully.

"I remembered as The Asset, as... with the same view that I had of it when I was activated. I, I could have described their faces, but I didn't know who they were then, so-"

"So your memories didn't encode them as people, just targets."

Bucky nodded. "I didn't even know who Sergeant Barnes was, so in my memories, there's no significance to being called that."

"But it was you."

"No!" Dammit, why couldn't he stay out of this for one minute? "It was Hydra, Bucky didn't have any choice, he was-"

"What the hell, Stevie, you should have more memories of Howard than me, why aren't you upset at all, seeing this?"

Steve floundered for a response for a moment, but Stark cut him off. "Because he already knew." The rage had turned cold now, and Bucky began to wonder if he was the one in less danger here. "Right, Rogers? You found a list of his kills in one of your little Hydra base hunts... no, you kept me out of those missions as much as possible from the start, never took Rhodey or Vis either. You knew from the beginning, didn't you?"

"I... I wasn't sure. Zola implied, but Bucky needed me, and I couldn't have you blaming him, or cutting off the resources we needed if you couldn't understand it wasn't his fault."

"Wait, what?" He was seriously considering punching the punk. "You had one of my victims' kid funding your hunt for me without even telling him? And I didn't need you Steve, I could have found you if I did! I needed time and space to figure out who I was and how I felt about it without you expecting me to be Bucky again."

"You are Bucky!"

Iron Man started to rub his temples, then looked at his gauntlet with a shade of bewilderment. Jesus, when had the guy last slept and now he had all these shitty realizations piling up on him. "No, Cap, he was born James Buchanan Barnes, and called Bucky as a kid. They called him Barnes in basic training and Sergeant Barnes or Sarge in the 107th. Hydra called him Soldat or Asset because they were dehumanizing fucks, but that was still his life for a good chunk of time. You don't get to decide that he's your Bucky just because you need that as your anchor in this time."

"He's right." James moved deliberately away. "Just like you don't get to decide what he gets to know about his folks' death or if he can blame me, even if blaming me would make things harder for you. You just, you need to stop trying to save me. Just... just go, okay? Go find Zemo, see if he still has that book, me and Stark will catch up."

Steve looked like he was going to protest, but James stared him down, and he eventually gave up. "I'll wait for you outside, Bucky." He gave an unsubltle threatening glare to Stark, but the other man wasn't even looking.

There was a long silence after he left. "You still killed my mom." The face plate came back down and those blue eyes were admittedly creepy.

"I did." He forced himself to lower his gun, hang both arms by his sides. "I didn't choose to, but I didn't stop myself either and maybe... maybe I should have been able to." He didn't think Iron Man was going to kill him, and he'd taken a lot of pain with far less justification before.

The armor was completely still for a moment, like the robot it resembled, with just a sparkle of lights from the sides of the helmet before it surged forward suddenly. "Don't move," said the mechanically filtered voice, and then one metal hand was grabbing the elbow of his left arm and twisting while the other slammed down a thin spike into the seam between plates.

"Jesus Christ!" He knew he was only feeling the spillover of the electrical charge, but it was enough to remind him of the chair and almost distract him from the not-quite-pain feedback as every servo and circuit in his arm overloaded. It seized completely before falling as a limp deadweight. Iron Man just ran the lights over him one more time before retracting his helmet entirely.

"When I have a decent workshop and a doctor on hand, it's coming off completely. It's a Frankenstein'ed mess anyway, multiple old power sources, who knows what it's leeching into your bloodstream."

"That's it?" He probably shouldn't push it, but he'd expected a lot worse. "Just gonna take it all out on my arm?"

Stark shook his head. "I have a team of shrinks waiting in the US that I'm 99% sure aren't secretly planning to use you for obscure revenge, and some ideas about the deeper programming we can work on. You will be monitored twenty-four seven until I'm convinced you're no more likely to go on a murder spree than anyone else I hang out with." He pinned James with an intense look and there was an absolute promise in his voice. "If you can heal enough, you deserve not to be punished any more for what was forced on you. But I will make sure that the Winter Soldier never has another victim. One way or another."

"...Okay. Okay, I... Thank you. Let's go."


End file.
